The lesson of the last year is this: foreign policy can’t be managed through the politics of personality, and our President would do well to take note of an observation John F. Kennedy made once he was in office – that all of the world’s problems aren’t his predecessor’s fault.

The Trashing of the First Amendment

We are increasingly seeing the trashing of the first amendment going on in our country, today 45’s White House banned access to the NY Times, as well as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, and BuzzFeed from the press briefings; only allowing a handpicked group of conservative-leaning media outlets into the briefings. These organizations included Breitbart News, the One America NewsNetwork and the Washington Times. Journalists from ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Fox News also attended.

Although, this may have happened before, 45 thinks that any news that does not favor him or tells his version of the “truth” is fake news. Are they probing too deeply, asking questions that he does not want to be answered, investigating too well?

As an ex-reporter, myself, it is our duty to report the news and the facts as they occur, whether the public, the president or the leaders like it. Not everything is pleasant to hear not everything is going to be favorable to “his majesty”. If you have nothing to hide, don’t do anything wrong and don’t be afraid to invite the press in to report what they find. Transparency is key. This maneuver on 45’s part sounds like a cover up and a smokescreen for other behavior that is going on that the Whitehouse and the Republicans do not want the public to know about- the scandals he wants us to forget about. It is a diversion to make us forget about what is at stake – our freedoms, our rights, our health care.

The professional team of reporters for any honest and ethical media outlet will continue to report the news. They will continue to dig and investigate to get to the truth of the matter. Those press briefings have proven to be only platforms of propaganda and lies. They don’t get the truth when they attend them, they get the runaround, they get platitudes and insults.

Another thing, I also understand that in Arizona, a Republican state senator has introduced legislation that could give police the authority to arrest anyone involved in a peaceful demonstration. It would also enable the police to arrest those who attended the event, even if they themselves did not commit any crime. They claim that those who protest are full-time, professional provocateur anarchists that are there solely to create public disorder and chaos. As a protestor myself, and one who as taken part in several of these marches, they are talking out of their hat!

To those and to those Congressmen refusing to meet with us because they say we are paid protestors and to those who tell us to get a job, I only say, we work full time, we are not all senior citizens with time on our hands, we are not professional anarchists, we are not paidby anyone, we pay OUR TAXES, we pay your salary, we are concerned citizens of the world and we see it going to hell in a hand basket unless we speak up. Listen! We will persist! Do not doubt us, you cannot silence us, and we will go to jail if need be.

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